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Southern Gardening

Help!! Holes in my petunias!

17 years ago

I planted my front annual beds with wild wave petunias earlier this month and noticed that in the last few days the leaves have large holes in them some are almost completly eaten. I noticed some shiny residue on some of the leaves which leads me to think it may be slugs? Anyway has anyone else had this problem and if so how did you control it. Thanks for the help.

Rob in ATL

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Comments (6)

iliketoplayinthedirt
17 years ago
Sounds like slugs! They love petunias...I lost a whole pot last year while on vacation.
kathyinalabama
17 years ago
Rob, are you watering in the evening/night? If so, don't. :)
I had containers of petunias last year and if I watered at night, the slugs were all over them. I stopped watering in the evening and the slugs weren't such a problem.
In a flower bed near the petunia pots, I put a small dish at dirt level and filled it 1/2 full of beer. The slugs are attracted to it, fall in and die.
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as i understand it ... you bought these pre-planted ... which to me means OVER planted ... for fast sale and immediate gratification ... if they are flopping every night after being in the blistering sun during the high heat of the day ... that means the roots are too jammed in what little potting media there is ... there isnt enough media.. to hold the water they need the ONLY solution.. FOR NEXT YEAR ... is bigger permanent pots ... with enough media ... to sustain the plants for the season ... and just enough plants to grow in such .... but you will have to wait a month or two.. for them to fill up the pot ... i would bet my shiny nickle... if you took the pot apart.. and tipped out the root mass.. you would be hard pressed to find any media.. to hold water.. for the whole day ... these pots need to go in shade.. during the heat of the day.. and you will probably find.. that they can actually making it thru the day ... without looking like a bunch of wilted cut flowers ... yes.. i know.. that defeats the purpose you bought them for... but them dying does also ... put them in the patio in the yard in the shade.. and you can enjoy them for the rest of summer ... ken
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rhizo_1 (North AL) zone 7
17 years ago
'Escar-go' or 'Sluggo' are both non-toxic, very helpful slug baits. You can find either of them at any decent garden department.

(Iron phosphate is the active ingredient. Other slug baits are very toxic and should be avoided.)
Maryl (Okla. Zone 7a)
17 years ago
When I was first building up my garden, I bought and planted lots of plants from the local nurseries. I had a terrific slug problem for many years. One of the contributing factors was that I was importing nursery slugs right along with the plants. Have you seen their plants sitting on the ground waiting to be moved up to the table as a space clears? If not at the nursery itself, then at the wholesaler that trucked them in. That's how slugs can get into hanging baskets. That mistified me for years.
jmarks74
17 years ago
Wow....cool. Glad I read that. I have been scratching my head for weeks trying to figure out first WHY there were holes then after discovering it was slugs ..HOW the slugs were getting into the hanging baskets of trailing petunias I have. I sprinkled some "slug stuff' I bought at a local home improvement store around the base of the pole. THEY were still there! Drove me insane. Do you think I could put the slug medicine stuff into the hanging basket to get rid of them?
dickandsandyvan
6 years ago
I use, used coffee grounds. I get them free from our local coffee shop. Or use them from your coffee pot. We're not big on coffee, usually only one cup each. I use it on my hostas, and petunias. It makes the yard smell good too. I just sprinkle it with my hand around the bottom of the plant. It works great.

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